Promises Made Must Always Be Kept
by Iggy's Duckie
Summary: Desperate to support his child and himself, and to escape a certain heart-breaking Frenchman, Arthur moves in with his true friend, Tino, who welcomes them with open arms. Arthur, who's heart still remains in pieces, tries to piece his broken heart back together, when a certain relative of Tino's comes to visit for vacation. Will Alfred be able to seal his heart back together? USUK
1. To Keep

**Hello, my sweet little duckies~ **

**Forgive me for not updating on my multi-chapter fic.. I have writers' block..SEVERE WRITERS' BLOCK. LO SIENTO! GOMEN! SORRY, HUNNY BUNNIES! **

**Mentions a one-sided Fruk (it's very vague, I promise you)...BUT THIS IS SO TOTALLY USUK! My OTP, of course~ **

**Also, Sealand is England's baby. (AWWWWW..) And a FEM!UK prior relationship that resulted in Sealand. **

**Hopefully you enjoy this though. . **

**I don't own shit.**

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He never intended this to happen.

Arthur closed his eyes tightly, trying desperately to remember what happened. The spoon from the sugar jar made a small ringing sound as hit the inside walls of his half-filled teacup. His slender fingers clenched around it, as his mind started replayed the scene..with no such luck. _When did this start exactly? _he asked himself. _Maybe it was this morning.._

_Driving back home from work, Arthur was impatient and irritable. He let frustrated groan escape his throat as he glared at the ceiling of his car. He was stuck in 5 o'clock traffic. The cars that surrounded him were blaring their horns in a random sequence. 'God, I wish I had some bloody earplugs..'_

_He closed his eyes tightly and leaned his head on the top of his seat. 'Fucking traffic..'_

_After what seemed like forever, the cars in front of him and the ones beside him sped forward. This alerted the cars behind him and they nearly blasted his eardrums. Arthur awoke from an accidental twenty minute nap and jerked his car forward, so fast that he almost rear-ended the blue Ford in front of him. "Shit!" _

_The woman in it looked backed in relief when the Brit had gotten ahold of himself after his near heart attack, calmly maintaining enough space between their vehicles. _

_But that incident was nothing in comparison to what happened when he got home. _

And _what _happened _then_ was now the very main reason he was staying in a cheap motel now, at the edge of town. He looked down into his tea.

"_I should've gotten scotch instead.." _He muttered, whilst stirring the spoonin the light blue teacup. Arthur studied the brownish color of his tea..Wishing it would turn the light color of the alcoholic beverage he desired at the moment.

He took out the spoon, and continued to stare down at the liquid. It was deemed unfit to drink long ago. The was more salt in it anyway, and he didn't feel like trying to equal out the flavour by wasting his sugar. Arthur rubbed his red,puffy eyes and grabbed the cup to wash in the sink.

He listened to the soft breaths that left his son's small form and thanked God for giving him such a quiet baby..when he was asleep, at least. He peeked at the little bugger in the small, dusty living room. The Briton smiled, the boy was on the scarred couch, surely from the previous guests, of course.

He turned the light in the mini-kitchen and tiptoed through the living room to sit by him. He lifted the toddler onto his lap and leaned into the cushion a little lower so he rested his head against Arthur's chest comfortably.

The father let out a long sigh. Another smile made it's way to his face, but it looked much more sad than the one before. "It's just you and me now..isn't it, Peter?"

The dozing boy offered no response but a slight turn to rest more comfortably. Arthur let tears resurface and he tried desperately to choke down the lump in his throat.

So many things came to mind with that simple question. He looked back down at the child wrapped tightly in his arms. It was just like the first day, when he found him as an infant in a crate with rusted nails poking in through the walls of it. He came without a single note from Arthur's prior fling partner, Alice. But he could tell that it was his, the eyebrows were too similar to mistake him for another's. Like his mother, the baby had blue eyes...but the shade reminded him more of a clear ocean. And it had slightly darker blond hair than himself.

Arthur grew to love him, even if he was a mere mistake of a broken condom. Even if his mother gave him up and would never wish see him again(Arthur at least knew this much about her). He was a blessing to Arthur's rough life and that was all that seemed to matter.

Arthur bent down to kiss the soft-haired head of the toddler. "Sweet dreams, love."

He laid the boy on his side and took his blanket to include himself in his son's warmth as he laid beside him.

_What am I going to do..? _

He didn't have his own apartment due to the rise in rent, and..and.._that_ happened. He knew that he couldn't afford the motel for more than four days. He lost his job as a waiter at the local restaurant, he had had enough of a customer who started cussing him out so he responded in a none-to-professional way that had his boss kicking his ass out from the establishment, and had only started a new job that was too far to go without a form of transportation that wasn't walking or biking.

He had lost his support from _what_ happened a few hours prior to him leaving to this bloody excuse for a motel.

_No,_ Arthur frowned though his eyes showed determination, _I will do anything to prevent Peter's life from turning out like mine._

What could he do? Where coul go? Is this what Peter wants? _No, he deserves so much more than this. _

He once thought about putting Peter up for adoption, not long after he had received him. But he realised how much he'd miss out on the child's life. At the time, he had no idea how much he'd mean to him in the future, and pitied him.

_He's__mine__. And will __**never**_ _be anyone else's. _

As he thought this, his hold on the toddler slowly increased it's tightness. The child made a small noise in his sleep and it did not go unnoticed. His guardian relaxed his grip, but tucked the blanket in around them before letting his arms lie on the boy's sides.

Arthur gazed at the back of his head for a while longer. And then released another sigh before closing his eyes for much needed rest.

_Whatever happens, I'll always be here for you, Peter. I promise that we'll make it out of this. We'll succeed. In any way possible…. _His mind blanked out as he drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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**How was that for a first chapter, huh? There will be much more, I assure you. **


	2. Calling Tino

**I'm baaaack. x3 I am so darn happy with all the ****follows and reviews, you have no idea.. QuQ I love you all. Especially you, Marshal. Thanks, dude.**

* * *

He wasn't fully awake yet when the smaller form next to him began to wiggle. And once it was free of him, it began bouncing on him, yelling, "Wake up, Daddy! I'm hungry! Today's Friday, so we have to get weady..Come on!"

Arthur groaned in pain at his son's high amount of energy in too early of the morning for him. "Stop, Peter.."

"Nope!" Peter continued bouncing on his father's back. He wasn't going to stand down was he?

Without warning, the toddler was pulled into his father's blanket trap. He squealed and kicked his legs as Arthur started tickling him. "H-Hey, that's not fai-" He burst into a fit of laughter as the tickling doubled in intensity. His guardian snickered and pulled the flailing toddler up so he was entrapped in the blanket. "Put me down, you buwwy! Whoa-" He fell out of the blanket onto the couch with an "oof".

The almost-a-five-year old's hair stood up from the static and looked a bit dishiveled from Arthur's surprise attack. The elder chuckled and ruffled his son's already messy hair. Unlike Arthur, the boy's hair only looked this messed up in the morning.

While he was distracted in his own thoughts, Peter launched himself at his side and start tickling, which barely got a twitch as a response from his guardian. He pouted at him. "No fair. Why aren't you tickowish?"

"It's "_ticklish_". And when you get older, you start to get too used to these things and then they don't have much of an effect on you." Arthur smiled lazily and started to pet the boy's wild hair down.

The boy's wide orbs stared up at his green ones. "So you were still ticklish when you were little, right?"

He nodded and yawned, pulled the the latter into his lap, and tucked his head under his chin. Peter snuggled back into his father's arms and sighed through his nose. They sat there in peaceful silence, until Peter mumbled that he was hungry.

"Hmmm...what would you _like _to eat?"

"Cinnamon rolls."

Arthur frowned. "To cook here or-"

He shook his head. "No," he turned to face Arthur, a smile making it's way to his face, "We should get some on the way to the park!"

For a moment, Arthur looked exhausted, but then he stood up and started folding up the blanket. "Alright then, but you have to take a quick bath before-"

"Okay!" The toddler bounced off the couch to find his backpack. He pulled out his towel, rubber ducky, and toothbrush, before he disappeared into the bathroom.

Arthur, who watched this in mild curiosity, set down the blanket on top the couch and sat down beside it, letting out another sigh. The thoughts from every night since their first at the motel came back to haunt him.

Where could they stay? _I have no relatives in America. No friends except..Francis..._ He cringed at just thinking the name. He ignored the heartache the name also gave him.

He knew none of his work colleagues would bother to help him nor any in the job he had before. And he knew that his new boss, Mr. Beilschmidt, had even less sympathy for his situation. He only stood out because he was from Europe and his boss understood why he'd act rudely back to a customer, though he wouldn't tolerate it if it happened in _his_ company.

Arthur somehow _managed_ (and to stay on his good side had managed to get a few days off work to properly situate himself so that Peter could go back to preschool..

He grunted and buried his face in his hands.. _What am I going to do..?_

He couldn't bear to be anywhere near Francis' vicinity, it was torture. _If he can't be trusted.._

"Daddy, are you alright..?" He looked up at Peter who was standing in the frame of the bathroom door, looking at him with concern.

"Yes, lad..I'm just..Thinking of what- or where..where could get the cinnamon rolls.." He faked a laugh, which Peter didn't find reassuring. The boy smiled though and shook some of the water out of his hair. "Can you get my bag?"_  
_

"Sure." Arthur got up and scooped the younger's bag up and treaded to the bathroom. He passed by him and ran his hand through his wet hair. "Are you sure you scrubbed?" Arthur questioned, while draining the soapy water in the tub.

Peter tugged at his own hair, frowning. "Yeah, there's no more soap in it."

The green-eyed Brit looked back from the tub at the child. "I didn't ask you if you rinsed it out, Peter.."

"But I did!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Arthur smirked. "Good, because if you didn't, lice will surely nest in your full head of hair." His smirk widened when he heard Peter's slight gasp and stiffen behind him. "H-Huh?" Peter started grabbing up at his bangs in panic and searching for any signs of the unwanted parasites.

Arthur stood up and turned around to see this and chuckled. "Want me to check?" His smirk never left his face. The boy in only his briefs on nodded frantically. "Pwease."

Arthur took his head in his hands and searched his scalp for the imaginary pests.

He pulled at a hair in the middle. "Oh, I found one! You haven't been scrubbing, have you?"

Peter's eyes widened. "WOT?! LEMME SEE IT! LEMME SEE IT!" He jumped under Arthur's grip on his hair.

Arthur clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Ah, it looks like there's already a bunch of them. I might have to shave your hair off-"

"NOOO! Pwease don't, Dad!" A guilty Peter pleaded as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. "I promise I'll always scwub my hair! I'm sowwyyyy!"

Arthur patted his head reassuringly. "Don't worry, love. I was just joking." Peter looked up and rubbed away his tears. "That was mean. I thought you were weally going to shave my hair."

The Englishman took out a comb from the younger one's bag and began combing Peter's hair. "I will if you neglect thoroughly cleaning your scalp."

Peter huffed and tugged on his shorts. "Fine, you buwwy."

The other pinched the pinched his chubby cheek."If you keep that up, Peter, you'll turn into an American.." They both chortled at that, and then turned away from each other, as they finished getting ready.

* * *

Peter chose his white sailor shirt and a blue necktie with shorts and knee-high socks. He chose to wear his black Mary Jane shoes and a matching hat to go with his outfit. While the boy posed in his reflection, even Arthur could admit that he looked rather dashing. His smart casual wear was nothing compared to how well his son looked.

"Looking good, lad. Would you like some tea before we go?"

Peter nodded and skipped to the couch with his stuffed seagull under his arm.

Arthur grinned and filled a kettle to put on the stove. As he did this, he spotted the teacup from the night before. He suddenly felt morose as thoughts of a certain _event _flashed through his mind. He put the kettle on the stove and turned it on before turning back to the sink to wash the teacup so his son could use it.

As he turned the light blue cup upside down to scrub the bottom, he noticed a small smudge on it that definitely looked like writing.

_To Arthur, Love Tino_

Tino? Who was-_Oh, wait. I __remember! It's that one exchange student from Finland in my last year of high school in England. Yeah..That Tino.._

They had common hobbies, so they got along well. They were buddies for his senior year of high school, before Arthur left for New York City with _Francis_, who was also an exchange student from that same year. The mere thought of Francis made his blood boil, _but Tino, on the other hand.._

Tino was good at art, so he made Arthur a tea set so he would never forget him after he left. The Finnish boy was so gentle and honest that he was never unlikes by any of their peers. He admired Tino because he was calm, but also serious and hard-working. And he was talkative, but also slightly adult-like, as was Arthur at the time. He was a very quiet person when alone though.

The memories they shared made Arthur smile. _If only he was here now.._

He turned off the faucet and got a paper towel to clean the teacup. Why would he be here? _  
_

_Didn't he, at one point, mention he was going to move to America to be closer to some relatives?_

"Well, there is only one way to find out.." He smiled and dried the cup for some tea.

* * *

After a few searches on the internet, he finally stumbled across some of his high school friend's former jobs..

He was surprised seeing something along the lines of "journalist", "owns a bakery", "sniper training", even "DJ".. _You really get around..but then again, this is New York City.. _Arthur was ecstatic that Tino lived near the main city. _Maybe I could-_

_No, Arthur._ He paused and looked away at his laptop screen and back to the phone in his hands. _That's rude. You haven't even him since you were eighteen. You're just going to straight up ask him if you can move in with your son into his house?!_

But wasn't he that desperate. Plus, Peter needed a house, not some falling-apart motel room. _You__ crazy bloke! _Arthur was starting to get overly annoyed with his conscience's irritating voice. _"__Shut up, you bloody-"__  
_

"Dad, who awe you talking to?"

Arthur stiffened and turned to see his son who was trotting back from the swings. "N-No one," he tried to keep a straight face by smiling, "Keep playing, you tacker." He shooed the boy away with the flick of his wrist in mock attitude.

Peter stuck out his tongue, a bit of frosting from his cinnamon roll still stuck around on his lips and the edges of his mouth. "Fine, you bounce!" He skipped through the newly fallen leaves to the monkey bars and left his guardian in peace.

Rebalancing his laptop on the bench, he scrolled down to where Tino's home phone number. He then looked down at his phone screen and tapped in the phone number that was shown on Tino's webpage and saved it to his phone.

He wasn't ready for this. _I'll do it when I get home._

* * *

Arthur carried in Peter who had fallen asleep in the car during their ride home. _Just after lunch too. Perfect. _He laid him on the couch, the one they both called their "bed", and threw his coat over him. He pulled the collar of the coat down and ruffled the boy's hair. "Sleep tight, love."

Sparing one more look at the boy, he walked to the kitchen to make the call..

* * *

Outside the other side of city, there was a homey looking two-story house that was painted to look like a cabin. Along the painted-on logs, there was vines with every kind of flower painted on. The blue roof was very mild in contrast to the rest of the appearance of it, surprisingly. All in all, it was not too much, not to little, just perfect..

A certain Finnish man smiled at it, their house looked perfect. He held onto his fiancé's hand and rested on his side. _Fiancé..._ His heart raced whenever he said or thought it.._still_. It's been a week or so since he's been engaged, but he _still_ couldn't help but feel as if he was in the honeymoon faze of when his _fiancé _first asked him to be his boyfriend.

The other squeezed his hand, and the smaller Finn looked up to see the other nod. "Looks good." Though the taller significant other didn't speak or show much emotion, you could see how happy he was if you looked into his _beautiful sea blue eyes.._

"Oh, Berwald.." He scooted closer to the Swede and tucked his arms around his waist. "I can't believe it..I can't believe that you'd-"

Berwald tilted his "wife"'s soft, round face up and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Everythin's perfect, 'cause _you're_ perfect, Tino.."

Tino blushed as his lavender eyes became enraptured by the Swedish man's aquamarine, and it was made clear that he really meant it. This made him wrap his arms around Berwald's neck to pull him down for another kiss. "No, _you_ are, Berwald.."he breathed, as they separated.

The Swede picked him up bridal-style and began carrying him up the stairs of _their _new house.

_You hopeless romantic, you.. _Tino nuzzled his nose into his lover's navy blue jacket, his heart falling in pace with Berwald's footsteps.

Though he tells him "I'm the lucky one", Tino couldn't help but feel it's the other way around. _I'm the lucky one!_

His fiancé slid the see-through door open and flung the other onto the couch that had fabric of ultimate softness. _It's like falling into a cloud.. _

A long day of painting has paid off..And now it was just them. In their new house they had just finished setting up their belongings in. Everything was done and perfect.

And now Tino was gazing up at his lover, who now had bedroom eyes.. "How do you think we should celebrate, _kultasensi_..?" His native language sensually glided off his tongue as he let his eyes memorize every inch of Berwald's body that was now leaning over him.

The taller kissed the other's lips sloppily as he trailed down into his neck where he murmured,_ "Kärlek.." _

This is why Tino thought of himself being the one who was luckier. Berwald treated him so well and he didn't know how to handle it because of how self-conscious he was.. And he didn't know if he could ever return all the love he was given...At least, not until he knew he had _fell completely in love with-_

He gasped as hands ran down his hips and around to his backside where he was tested for moldability. The tester nipped at his neck and was slowly slipping his clothes off with ease. Goosebumps appeared everywhere there was skin that was begging to be touched. "Mmmm..Ahhh..Ber.." Tino's dilated pupils rolled back into his head as he felt heat spike his skin and rush up to his face and down to his-

They paused like a pair of teenagers caught doing the same thing they were by one of their parents, but instead, it was the phone ringing.

_GOD DAMMIT, just when it was getting good-_

"I'll get it." Berwald was already getting up, before Tino pulled him down and got up himself. "No, let me." When the other tried to object, he pushed him back down into the puffy couch and put a finger to his lips. "Shhhh.." The mischievous look in his eyes was more than enough to send the Swede his naughty intentions. The bigger man fell fast.

The Finn walked over to their new house phone and pressed the 'answer' button, pulling up his boxers that were pooling down around his ankles not one minute ago...

_Whoever this fucking cockblock is, I swear I'll cuss him out 'til he goes deaf! _Now scowling, he covered his inner turmoil with a his sweet voice. "Oxensteirna and Väinämöinen residence, this is Tino."

_"Hello? This is-" _

Tino's eye twitched, this voice was too different of an accent from anyone he knew.

"I'm sorry, this number is not used for any of Dr. Oxenst-"

_"Tino? This is Arthur, Arthur Kirkland."_

Arthur..Kirkland? From his exchange in London?

"..Arthur? H-Hei," Tino gulped and tilted his head back to look at Berwald, who was looking at him questionably,"Um, is there a better time we could catch up? Th-This is kind of a bad time-"

_"Oh, I'm sorry to-, I just-" _Arthur inhaled deeply. _"I need somewhere for m-my son to stay. Please- You- I have no one else to turn to-" _The Brit's voice choked up again as emotion arose from where it had been buried it deep within him. _"I mean-n you don't have to-It's just f-for a few days-"_

Tino's heart lurched. It was a weakness of his to give in to one in need.. At least he had Berwald to judge who was actually worth trusting..

He looked up at the said judge, who was already walking towards him with a concerned look on his face. He smiled. "Of course, we'd love to.."

_"R-Really?"_

"Yeah, me and Ber love kids! He can stay as long as he wants!"

Arthur tried to thank him, but Tino didn't let him as he chatted on with much excitement asking things like "How old is he?" "What's his name?" and "I bet he looks a lot like you, he's bound to be cute!"

_"Tino, Tino! Okay!" _Tino quieted down, as his fiancé's arms made their way around his waist. "We'll be having company quicker than we thought, Ber."

The other made sound and squeezed his arms tighter around the Finn. After years of trying to figure out the Swede, he recognized this as a confirmation.

* * *

On the other side of the big city, Arthur was smiling and wiping the tears that no longer threatened to fall. "His name is Peter. He's four, but is turning five in a month. He looks a lot like me, but I'm not so sure.."

"You have to send me some pics-Oh, never mind that! Just bring him over tomorrow, I wanna see him! And we can catch up! It'll be great!"

"I'm sure it will be.." Arthur's eyebrow twitched. _Seem's like he already caught on to American slang. He must have been here for some time.._ His heart dropped with guilt.

He realized, with a blink of his eyes, that he had spaced out. The Finn was talking with someone in the background. "Oh, Tino, are you still there? I'm sorry!"

_"It's okay, Arthur. Ber and I are just child-proofing the house. We just moved in, so-"_

The guilt returned and Arthur stumbled over his words again. "O-Oh? I'm sorry to impose-I-I should give you time to-"

_"It's fine! It'll take no time at all! We already settled in. Just now, actually."_

"Are you sure?"

_"Joo!" _Tino giggled as something crashed in the background. _"Be careful, Ber! The floors just got waxed this morning and I don't want to-"_

"Ber..?" _Berwald, __Tino's roommate at my high school? He's still living with him? _He chewed at his lip worriedly imagining the tiny Finnish man with a tall, intimidating Swede like Berwald.

_"Oh! Berwald! You remember my roommate?"_

"Are you still roommates or something...?"

The other guffawed, before answering, "Nope! We're getting married!"

"R-Really..?" Arthur was...surprised, to say the least. "C-Congratulations to both of you then!"

_"I know, I still can't believe it! He's so handsome now, even more than in high school! Oh, let me tell you.."_

And the day drew into a close as they chattered on, though Tino did most of it, until Peter woke up.

The boy rubbed his eyes and sat up from the couch. "Daddy..?"

He looked up from the phone. "One minute, Peter. Do you want some supper?" Peter nodded.

He leaned back into his cellphone. "Listen, Tino, I have to go. Is it okay if we come around noon? I still have to get-gather some of his things."

_"Sure! That'll give us enough time to prepare a guest room for the two of you."_

"That's-" _Wait, 'the TWO of us'? "_U-uh, no, Tino-That-That's okay, it'll just be him staying-I'll be staying at the motel for a whi-"

_"Arthur, it's fine, really. You deserve to stay with your son. And you need someone to talk to about what happened. I'll listen." _The sincerity and reassurance in his voice brought tears to Arthur's eyes. Damn Tino for being able to _see_ through him even if he wasn't there to actually see him.

"A-Are you sure? I don't want to impose-"

_"You can count on me, like one, two, thre-" _

"Oh bloody-Fine." Arthur huffed, setting a pan of water on his stove.

_" Lean on me, when you're not strooong. And I'll be your frieeend, I'll help you carryyy ooon."_ Tino had a beautiful singing voice, which ended with some light laughing. _"That's __what friends are for, remember?"_

Arthur chuckled at the cliché line and wiped his eyes again. Damn Tino again for making him feel so pathetic and vulnerable. And for cheering him up so easily. "You win."

_"So, see you tomorrow?"_

"Yes. I- just- I-I'm so thankful-I-I can't think of any other time that someone has-" The words failed to form in his head, so he finally just closed his eyes and sighed. "I can't thank you enough for this, Tino."

The other said nothing, but smiled as Arthur's breathing filled the receiver.

"Thank you. Thank you so much.." A few tears glided down the Brit's cheek and reflected the golden rays of the sunset as they fell to the stained floor.

* * *

He felt the weight being lifted off his shoulders. The stress of being a single parent, of fighting to live a stable life, of no family support, of _the heart break.. _It just disappeared as the phone call ended.

He walked into the small living room and sat at the small coffee table next to his son, who had just finished his beef stew. The boy laid on his head on his lap as Arthur combed his fingers through his hair.

"Everything is going to be alright.." The boy looked up, but didn't turn his head as he nodded slowly.

_Everything is going to be just fine.._

* * *

**ARTHUR IS SUCH A COCKBLOCK. xD I let myself be carried away, I'm sorry! And it's crazy, I've never wrote something _that _steamy. DAYUM. **

**samijohnston, if you're reading this, THIS SUFIN'S DEDICATED TO YOOUUUU. 3 )/ 3 MWAH! I WOVE YA!**

**Thank you reviewers and followers, this story would be nothing without you(I meant me!)!**

**BYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEE!**


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